Pittsburgh Woman Arrested For Assaulting A Teacher

An argument turned physical when a mother of a student assaulted her child’s teacher over a cell phone.

On October 19, 2017, Janice Watkins, a teacher at King pre-K-8 in Pittsburgh, PA, was assaulted with a brick by Daishonta Williams for taking her child’s phone away during class.

Channel 11 news reports that Watkins was threatened by Williams in front of school workers. Janice Watkins’ family says the school did nothing about it until she was assaulted.

Diana Ralph King whose grandchild attends the school says, “First of all, she shouldn’t have had the phone in school and the teacher wouldn’t have had to take the phone.”

Other parents chimed in shock of the incident.

Channel 11 reports that Williams believed that Watkins choked her 10-year-old daughter after an incident over the child’s cell phone.

Before turning herself in, Williams spoke with Channel 11 news on the phone and told them she followed Watkins as she left the school. She approached Watkins while she was sitting in her car on the West End Bridge.

“I did get out and I did hit her, but I did not throw a brick through the window as they say I did,” Williams said. “I did not. I punched her in her face.”

On Thursday, Williams was arrested and charged with aggravated assault. Her defense attorney Blaine Jones told Channel 11, “The first thing we’re going to try and do is get Ms. Williams out of jail.”

Speaking with reporters off camera, Watkins family said Williams verbally threatened Watkins the day of the attack as she attended a meeting at the school about her daughter.

I see this everyday where I work in an Alternative program. Little Johnny is here because he could not behave in his regular school setting but everybody is wrong but Little Johnny. Every other word that comes out of Little Johnny’s mouth is a cuss word and he has no respect for adults or the law. When I meet his parents/parent, I understand why Little Johnny is the way he is….that fruit ain’t falling far from the tree. SAD

Therefore, in my opinion, I feel that we need to look at interventions in order to assist the child and family because after alternative school, where will Little Johnny be doing?
As a Professional School Counselor, who has also worked in an Alternative School, I feel that the Traditional Way of Schooling is not working for the children like Little Johnny because if it was, he wouldn’t have to be in an Alternative School. It appears that he needs something different than just sitting in an Alternative School without something differently being done. What do we call it when the same thing is done over and over again, and we expect different results.?
Do you get my point?

I forgot to comment about the parent, she is in jail where she should be, her child was in the wrong not the teacher. It was said that the teacher choked the child but I doubt it, the mother was making excuses for her bad behavior.

The lack of parenting is the main reason so many kids of ALL races act the way the do. The child should never of had the phone in school. We didn’t have cell phones in school we had landlines, and my mom told us when we could afford pay for a phone was when we could get one.

I was not going to reply to your comments at first… But enough is enough. Sure this is a Black parent, but let me tell your RACIST ASS SOMETHING…….STFU with the stupid remarks. Ain’t nothing about you Dr anything….. You ac like your white ass background does not produce hard headed ass children . Hell they killing their own parents day in and day out. So truth be told , bad parenting goes all the way around not one set of parents with your ignorant ass.

You are 99% right. Bad parenting is just that, regardless of race. Which is why all school shooters are not white. There have been school shooters of all races. Including black school shooters. You should have just stopped at your first sentence. Then you would have been 100% right.

This is so outrageous! Here is another prime example of how ignorant some people can be over things that just don’t matter. A cell phone is a distraction in the classroom as you can see in this situation. There are phones in the school if you need to get in contact with your child do it the RIGHT way – CALL THE SCHOOL!. Teach your child to sit their a**es down and LEARN in the classroom and not be a clown who needs to be disciplined by the teacher. Teachers can’t teach because they have to be referee, disciplinarian, mentor, and sometimes teachers have to actually parent the children as well as their parents. So when does the child learn? UGH!!!

Exactly. This child will grow up thinking her bad behavior should be accepted and if challenged she has the “right” to be violent. These adults should face the most severe charges and penalty allowed by law. This is unacceptable behavior by both the student and her ghetto ass family. I hate to say it, but this kid needs to be kicked out of the school district. Our children don’t stand a chance and once they are “in the system” they are screwed, but it’s the adult’s in her life fault. BE F**KIN’ better parents.

This mother was soooooo wrong. The phone should not have been in class to begin with. I remember when IPods were becoming popular and we bought my daughter one, and she was, I believe, a junior or senior in high school. My last words to her were, “the IPod does not go to school.” Well, you know what she did……she too it to school and when the principal called me to say it had been confiscated, I politely went to the school, retrieved the IPod and I have that IPod still to this day. Parents – – stop making your children think that they do not have to be accountable for their actions.

Her is a prime example of why our children lag behind in education. Ignorant parents who believe anything their children tell them. regardless of what your child tell you, contact the school first. Find out what REALLY happened. Sorry to say children will lie to cover their butts, especially when they have parents that are IGNUT and will go off about any little thing.